LUNA'S REVENGE: Too Late For Second Chance

Ch 8:Miserable

Eloise’s POV:

With a sharp, throbbing pain at the back of my head, I slowly opened my eyes, trying to glance at my surroundings while my mind was still in a daze.

Just until a moment ago, I was dreaming of playing tag with my Liliana, as the soothing sound of her chuckle echoed all around the front yard of our pack house.

It was such a beautiful dream…yet now, after waking up, a harrowing sense of distress had started to make me feel nauseous inside.

Momentarily, all of my senses froze as I couldn’t process what was going on…

“Luna…you’re awake?” But a concerned feminine voice flinched me when I turned my glance at the doorstep, looking at our old maid, Sena, who slowly entered the room carrying a bowl of warm water and a wet towel.

Sena slowly lifted down the bowl on the round table near the bed, before she marched a little closer to my bed, sounding quite concerned, “How are you feeling now, Luna? You’ve been unconscious since yesterday, but thankfully, you’ve regained your senses.”

“Sena…what am I doing here? I…I can’t remember it…”

My baffled murmur seemed to startle her a little, but she furrowed her brows with glistening tears prominent in her eyes as she uttered, “I can understand your pain very well, Luna. Even the doctor said your body and mind have undergone a great shock.

“But, pardon me. You do not have much time to waste here, Luna. I need to inform our Alpha about you regaining your senses, so that our little princess’s funeral can proceed without any further delay.”

She always used to call my Lili a little princess…and by mentioning her, all those inconsolable, heartbreaking memories rushed to my mind, making me confront my most painful reality where I had lost my beloved daughter…forever!

Tears flood down my cheeks, making my chest tighten up so much that I couldn’t breathe. I was enraged with wrath and despair at our Holy Moon Goddesses…demanding an answer of how she could be so cruel to me? What did I ever do wrong to deserve this?

“No…I…I can’t…I can’t bid my Lili goodbye…I…I can’t do this…” My voice and hands trembled so hard as I quivered, trying to cover my face. I was presenting my vulnerable side before Sena, who stood helplessly still, watching me.

As someone who had lost her child to war, Sena was perfectly able to empathize with my deep agony. But she held a calm expression while patting my shoulder once, before she urged me, “Luna…please…I know it sounds impossible, but you’ve to stay strong, not only as a mother but also as our Luna of the Vanguard pack.”

A brief pause prevailed between us when she exhaled a long sigh, checking around our surroundings to make sure no one was listening. “To be honest, Alpha has already been getting impatient with being unable to proceed with the funeral procedures in your absence.

“That’s why he had strictly ordered us after bringing you home yesterday. Once you’re up…I need to help you get groomed so that all the funeral rites can be processed with ease.”

“But…how am I supposed to let my baby go?” I groaned, with these dejected tears choking down my throat, “How can I b-bid her a last goodbye? How can I pretend to be a perfect Luna before the pack…When I have lost my everything now?”

For a moment, Sena grew completely silent, and right after the second, she was about to turn around to walk away from the room, when she curtly responded, “I guess…then you should get some more rest now, Luna. Maybe…it would still take some more time before your grief and fatigue fade away. In the meantime, I will let our Alpha know that you’ve regained your consciousness.”

When she closed the room door behind her, I sprang out of my bed, running towards the wardrobe where I had stored most of Lili’s clothes, so that I could groom my child every day to my heart’s content.

But holding those little dresses in my hand now suddenly made me burst into tears, as I wailed aloud, hugging them tight to my chest. My ears were ringing, with the sharp pain in my head getting strong enough as if I was about to pass out.

Now that my Lili is gone, standing in that empty, soulless room where I was supposed to muster my inner strength to finish my precious child’s funeral rites…I realized…my heart was bleeding dry, painfully unable to accept my doomed fate.

Perhaps my soul too has died along with Lili, and…only this body is remaining to accompany her to the afterlife.

My eyes rolled over to a bottle of branded scotch at the corner of a shelf, which Theo had given to me as a gift on our 7th anniversary. Despite knowing about my poor alcohol tolerance, I was a bit disappointed at his choice of gift for our special night, and didn’t even touch the bottle.

But now, unable to bear through this immeasurable agony, I realized I couldn’t do anything being sober right now. I grabbed the bottle and gulped down almost half of it in one go, desperately hoping any miracle would work and I might die right this instant from acute alcohol poisoning.

My head had already started to spin as I dropped the bottle from my hand, and clutching onto one of my LIli’s dress, I stumbled down on the floor against the giant pillar of my room.

But at that moment, the door of my room slammed open with a loud ‘thud’, making me avert my blurry gaze towards the one approaching me.

“Eloise? What the hell?” I heard Theo’s irked grunt echoing inside the walls of the room, while I struggled to look at him through my fuzzy eyes. His fair complexion had turned redden from rage, while he glanced at the alcohol bottle once before shuffling his cold glare on me, “Eloise, you were drinking here? On the day of your daughter’s funeral? Have you really lost it?”

“I…I don’t know…but…m-my heart aches so much, Theo…” Tears streamed helplessly down my eyes, as I quivered, massaging my chest with my trembling palms where the pain was getting a bit stronger.

“Lili was my daughter too…and I am equally devastated to lose her as well. But does that mean you should neglect your duties as the Pack Luna and confine yourself in the room to drink your sorrows away?”

His hoarse voice sounded quite perturbed this time, as he marched towards me, throwing off one of the gowns at me which Sena had brought along with her in the room to help me with grooming.

“Why aren’t you dressed yet? The guests have already started arriving…How long am I supposed to wait for you to get back your damn senses, Eloise?”

His angry grunt ultimately made me snap so hard that I stood up from the ground while holding the wall with my wobbly legs, and glared deep into him with my teary eyes, “Are you…even a little sad about your daughter’s death, Theo? Even now…y-you’re still worrying for the goddamn pack reputation?”

“Eloise?” He gritted at me, sounding perplexed from my tone when he further rebuked, “Have you drunk so much that your mind has gone ashtray now?”

“No…I guess, I got the courage I needed desperately…” I snarled at him in a low grunt, curling my hands into a fist before I lashed out, “If you had fulfilled your role as an ideal father…perhaps my Lili should’ve still lived now… You’re the one who ruined everything, Theo!”

“So…now are you just gonna blame me for everything?”

“YES!” I screamed with these bitter tears, cracking my voice, as my head had started to feel dizzy enough, making me unable to stand on my feet without holding against the wall, “You’re responsible for it! Why couldn’t you find a donor for her among these countless territories? She could’ve lived if you hadn’t focused on those damn negotiations but on our child instead!

“Are you such an incapable Alpha that you couldn’t even protect your daughter? Why did you have to make us so miserable? Why did you have to be such a failure as a husband and a father, Theo!?”

My screams and cries reverberated fervently across the room, while Theo stood silently for a moment, holding a stoic face as he gazed into me.

I saw his jaws twitching hard, which usually happens whenever he gets furious regarding something, this time for me.

Before I could utter a word anymore, he scoffed at me, “So…that means you’re being miserable by my side, huh?”

“That’s not what I said—”

“Fine.” His grumpy voice depicted that his toxic ego was hurt again, when Theo exhaled a long sigh before turning around, “Until now, I was keeping my patience from the guilt of being unable to arrange a donor for our child. Yet still, I had hoped to bring you along with me so we could fulfill our last duties together as parents for our Lili.

“But I have no hopes from you anymore, Eloise.

“Stay here and drink up to your heart’s content. As the Alpha, I declare the stripping of your position as our Pack’s Luna for the time being. Someone well-suited will deserve that position for now.”

“W-Wait…Theo…” My feet stumbled, losing all strength when I tried chasing after Theo as he stormed out of my room.

I collapsed on the bed, with tears shimmering down the corner of my eyes as I held onto my Lili’s dress tightly to my chest, quivering all alone until everything went dark before me.